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AR Notes/S01
The party is gathering together for the first time in their lives. They have all been doing odd jobs for people, exploring or working the trade lanes, and they are now being hired to complete a job for a landowner turned would-be explorer. They will start off having had downtime in various ways, which will determine starting equipment and gold. They will also have several items at their disposal to choose from, and some random trinkets collected on their journeys. They are starting in Brekstad, a small port city near the edge of Imperial territory in the realm of Vander. Their journey will take them beyond into the fringes of the Vandrin wilderness, to an abandoned temple ruin (goliath) inhabited by goliaths. There they will find a magical artifact - a pyramid of bright, unnatural metal - with strange and unnatural powers, a remnant of the Conflagration. It is the magical core of a prototype ship built by the dwarves long ago, and the core is semi-sentient. It is something that agents of the empire would covet greatly, if they were to find out about its existence. Downtime The Job The party is approached by a goliath named Taldric Greymane (Saltzpyre / Darth Vader), who wishes them to clear and scout the land that he has recently decided to develop into a castle. The party is allowed, as part of their compensation, to keep any loot they find from anything they kill - Taldric warns that his surveyors saw traces of goblin activity. The party's instructions are to clear the goblins and a site that Taldric had in mind for his estate, built on the slope of a shallow cliff not far from where the goblins are supposed to have made their home. The Road to the Estate Along the road the party has a chance to encounter: *Goblin Scouts *Trolls *Direwolves *Bandits *Forest Drakes Encounter Notes The Journal If the party investigates the area enough, they will find an old journal (80-200 years) of a young, explorer wizard, who was killed in his sleep by the goblins' ancestors. Most of it is ruined by moisture, but a few pages will be left unmarked, and the party will be able to decipher it. (Not written in Common) Clues can lead them to discover that the wizard was carrying an artifact of great importance and that inscriptions led him to believe that the main site ____ the development of ____ was located somewhere east of the _____ mountains. The astral coordinates should have been 128.5, 223.6, but recent clues lead.... (rest of location is illegible) Details can also be found of his previous exploit, showing "Old metal tablets and maps from _______ (lots of things illegible) cross referenced with data from the laboratory under the Hilfigen Peaks lead him to believe that Brekstad would be a good place to start his search." The index in the back of the journal has many coordinates listed, but the sections that mention the Hilfigen Peaks do have footnotes that list coordinates. This wizard was part of an exploratory guild based in Port Zigall, called the Grand Independent Venture Bureau (the GIV-B) - his corpse and loot can be found as offerings in the goblins' stronghold, in the central chamber. The Temple The temple is a small courtyard, ruined and overgrown, in front of a barrow-like construction in the side of a small hill. The goblins have fortified the ruin but have also set up camp around it. The camp is a small one, about 50-60 strong. The goblins have created a boulder trap in front of the entrance that doubles as a crushing trap and a way to seal the entrance when necessary. Within the entrance, there is a tunnel / passage that winds downwards to about 50 feet below the earth. By the looks of the ruin, the architecture is vaguely dwarven, though more elegant than most examples of ancient dwarven architecture - perhaps elemental. Motifs on the walls are covered and defaced with crude goblin carvings and runes praising Grumsh and exalting his holy four-point. Beneath the carvings a skilled eye could depict sailships and depictions of the elements - fire, water, earth, air - amid geometric designs and script in old dwarvish runes. At the end of the passageway there is an antechamber, which has been decorated with animal skins and a few humanoid heads (mostly rotted or entirely skulls) - offerings to Grumsh. Jars of teeth and bones as well as mouldering fruits lay there, as well as buckets and buckets of riverstones - a lot of offerings for such a goblin tribe, which is not normally religious. To one side of the passage is Klibrik's quarters, and to the other is a worship room. Straight ahead is the sanctum, which looks like (DC 15+ Hist / Religion check) it might be a grand tomb rather than a temple. Upon where the sarcophagus was / is, there stands now a large statue on a block of rough-hewn stone, depicting Grumsh as a great, strong goblin. He holds a bugbear and an elf in one enormous hand, both dead, and in the other a small silvery pyramid, aloft. He looks down with pride and challenge in his expression. The Goblin Tribe The goblins are led by the Shaman, known as Klibrik, who found the pyramid about 1 year prior. When she started to realize what the pyramid was capable of, and had gained some magical power through its study, she preached of a sign and a great calling to her fellow goblins, in her tribe some 10 days travel away into the wilderness. Most did not listen to her, but when she was exiled (as a threat to the elders / society), many goblins followed her in hopes of reaping the same reward. They have lived under her leadership in relative prosperity, as she was able to use some of her abilities to transmute food from bone, and metals from stones. The Dark Assassin To thin the herd of goblins, it might be necessary to involve a third party. Having heard of the young Greymane's interests in this place, and suspicious of them, the Empire will send an Arcane Trickster agent to the temple to try and seize any possible loot found there. This agent will take out a number of the goblins before being overpowered himself (roll for it) and falling to them. The goblin shaman will polymorph the agent into a rat, and crush the rat under a boulder trap (cage him up in a depression in the ground). The Strange Pyramid In the central chamber of the temple, underground and guarded by as many goblins as can guard it, lies the power core. It is a bright, silvery pyramid made of metal, about the size of a human head. It is held in the hand of a regal goblin statue, which looks like it should have taken many craftsmen a long time to make using casts and metalworking tools. The core is presided over by a goblin shaman who bears the mark of a pyramid tattooed on his forehead and used in his clothing. In terms of effect, the pyramid channels Natural and Soul magic through it, and was forged using an infinitesimal fraction of a Divine Spark. When used correctly, it would be housed in a device that would compensate for these three types of magic and channel them appropriately into the device to power the enchantments on a ship, as a sort of "activate-able fabrial". In its' current state, the pyramid is a bit unpredictable, and with the proper influences applied to it, the pyramid can produce marvelous or unstable effects. The pyramid's rules can be found on the right. When activated properly, the pyramid opens each side slightly, making it into a 12-sided object instead of 4-sided. This happens if it is exposed to the housing of a ship and exposed to a burst of transmutation magic. "Identify"-ing the pyramid would only reveal that it is a fabrial. Its attunement can be discerned with a DC 18 Arcana check. This check is DC 12 if a spell has been cast through the pyramid within the past minute. A creature proficient in such knowledge can learn another fact about it through 1-2 hours of study and a DC 18 Arcana check. The Conclusion When the party returns, the goliath who commissioned them will be spending the remainder of the day in the inn where the party spends the night. (Delay the party till nightfall by any means necessary). The party will hear commotion in the inn as agents of the empire (a rook?) interrogate him and drag him away. Hopefully the party will have enough motivation to pursue the other parts of the power cores Category:AR Notes